Running for her neice and a ‘Miracle’

BY CAITLYN KELLEHER THE COMMUNITY JOURNAL

Kristie Gagnon of Princeton with her sister ’s family in Gardner. Pictured from left ar e Tyler Hagar, 8, Kristie Gagnon, John Hagar, Marc ie Hagar and four -year-old Makayla Hagar , who is inspiring Gagnon to run in the Boston Marathon. Caitlyn Kelleher photo
With every step Princeton resident Kristie Gagnon takes on her 26.2-mile course from Hopkinton to Boston on April 19, she will not be thinking of the length of her journey but the length and struggle of her niece’s journey.

Gagnon is running this year’s Boston Marathon to raise money for Children’s Hospital Miles for Miracles, in honor of four-year-old Makayla. The little girl has a rare genetic disorder that caused her body to produce an extra copy of chromosome 8, called Trisomy 8 Mosaicism Syndrome.

“She tries really hard every day,” Gagnon said, and for this 22-year-old that commitment drives her to finish her race. The energy that her sister and brother-inlaw, Marcie and John Hagar of Gardner, put in helping Makayla accomplish every little goal amazes Gagnon and make her feel that running a marathon will not be that hard.

“I can’t think of another reason that I would run 26 miles and not think twice about it,” Gagnon said. “It’s a way I can tangibly do something.”

Heartbreak Hill will not be a struggle for this long-distance college track star, who says she’s just going to think of the anguish Makayla went through learning to walk using a walker. John Hagar spent hours working with Makayla and the walker when the little girl just wanted to lie back down.

“I swear to God, because of him she can walk. Thinking back to her and that walker and her falling; it’s easy to be inspired just spending an afternoon with her,” Gagnon said.

All of the steps of testing, diagnosing and helping Makayla have made her and her family vocal supporters of Children’s Hospital in Boston. “It was about a year before we even got to Children’s,” Gagnon said.

Marcie Hagar became concerned for her newborn daughter’s health when the infant was not gaining weight, having trouble eating, and was not responding to noises. The first diagnosis was a cleft palate, which surgery repaired. As the medical issues continued to develop it was determined that Makayla was missing the bridge between the two sides of her brain.

Marcie Hagar said the biggest question was why Makayla had these problems, and seeking that answer lead her to Children’s and to genetic testing.

“It was good to know what it is,” Hagar said. “We wouldn’t have found it, if it wasn’t for Children’s.”

Doctors are unsure about what type of developmental levels Makayla will reach; many said she would never walk at all. At this point in her life, Makayla has hit the developmental milestones of a child half her age.

“She’s developing at her own speed,” Hagar said. “She’s just proving the doctors wrong.”

Her two sides are working independently and about 60 percent of Makalya’s cells are affected with the triple copies of chromosome 8. Doctors have 15 documented cases of this problem in the world.

Finding the course

Gagnon, a Westminster native and 2005 graduate of
Oakmont Regional High School, is working as a personal trainer after graduating from Northeastern University. Since graduating, Gagnon missed doing the volunteer work she had done in college, so she was looking at the Children’s Hospital Web site trying to find a way to contribute to the place that had helped her niece. And she found the Miles for Miracles fundraiser.

“I stumbled upon it and applied,” Gagnon said.

Gagnon said many more people are involved in run, although she will be the only one running. As part of her commitment to Children’s Hospital’s team, Gagnon must raise $4,500.

The money will go to helping provide services at the hospital beyond basic medical care, from the support systems to helping cover medical bills of those in need.

“They give a lot of care and support to families that can’t afford it,” Gagnon said.

Hagar recalls the times Makayla had to

stay at Children’s Hospital for either medical tests or treatments, and says the support the hospital gives makes it a much easier process for the families. The hospital provides everything from entertainment for the children to cots for the parents.

“They accommodate for us,” said Hagar.

Those are the perks and the qualities that Gagnon wants to help to support.

In college, Gagnon ran the 10K for Northeastern, which has a Division I track program. So she thinks that training and her work as a personal trainer will help prepare her for the long run: “I’m a distance runner, so I think that will really help me,” she said.

Gagnon has 16 more weeks of training before she sets out with more than 20,000 other runners from around the world.

“It will be easy to get out the door. You can’t just sit inside when so many people know what you are going to do,” she said.

For more information on Gagnon’s run, visit howtohelp.childrenshospital. org/bostonmarathon/ pfp/?ID=GK0085